RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW:Two shops worth visiting to pick up presents with a difference are Mango and Nest (pictured) in Kenmare, Co Kerry.

Mango specialises in handmade furniture and crafts, has an excellent website, and is a regular exhibitor at homes and craft fairs around the country. It has a great selection of handsome and elegantly crafted home bars, which would be a fantastic present for anyone into home entertaining. Tel: 064-6641994 or www.mangocrafts.com.

Nest is a gem of a shop that caught our eye over the summer on one of many rainy-day visits to Kenmare. Packed full of desirables that make present giving very difficult – as in hard to hand over – there are Orla Kiely wallets, Holden leather bags, Alessi gadgets, Linum textiles, and a room full of things children could not even imagine exist, let alone things they might want. Owner Katherine Murphy is inspired by her young children and stocks interesting children’s clothes, including Petit Bateau, D’arcy Brown and Toffee Moon.